At your HEAL Africa hospital, you treat women who have been raped. What made you open it?In the early 2000s, my wife Lyn and I became concerned with the plight of women during the two civil wars and continued armed conflict in eastern Congo. Women pay the highest price during such violence. We couldn’t stand by and do nothing, so we did something.

What types of injuries can rape cause?A common injury is a tear, or vaginal fistula, which can leave women unable to have children or control their bladders. As well as the physical toll, there is a social and emotional impact. Many women are rejected by their families and communities – even their husbands.

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Has the recent end of the M23 rebellion in DR Congo meant a decrease in sexual violence?It has provided a window to see deeper into forest villages, where we find even worse atrocities. And although the war of the M23 rebels has ended, there are still 20 other militias terrorising people in the jungles of eastern Congo. Women are also being raped by soldiers of the Congolese army.

What drives this violence against women?In our culture, when one tribe invaded another’s villages, rape was used as a method of humiliation and provocation, to victimise the other tribe. It was a way to insult the vanquished; to show them you are more powerful than they are.

How are you working to fight this practice?We have to change the negative attitude of our men. Many believe that in order to prove that you’re a man you have to rape a girl. In the rural areas we have 150 trained community counsellors working to change this.

We also provide safe houses and treat the physical injuries of those who have been raped. We offer legal counselling and opportunities for women to learn to read, write and acquire other important skills they can use to generate an income. And we give micro-grants to help the women and their families start businesses. Africa can’t develop without women.

Has this work ever endangered your life?Yes, every day we need protection. When the civil war was going on, I heard about threats to my life. I have even confronted those who want to kill me.

What motivates you to keep going?In 2002, Lyn and I met a woman called Sakina whose husband had been killed. She ran away to a neighbouring village with her three children. There she was brutally raped by five men – who used the barrel of a gun. I could not imagine a human being doing something so inhumane and brutal to another. So I decided to do something. She was my first fistula patient. I find myself with tears in my eyes treating women. It is a labour of love.

My other motivation is my wife Lyn. She died of cancer recently, but I do this work in her memory. She was the driving force behind the hospital. And she is the one who told me, “nobody is fit to live until they’ve discovered what is worth dying for”.

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Kasereka “Jo” Lusi is an orthopaedic surgeon. With his wife Lyn, he co-founded HEAL Africa, a hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo that provides reconstructive surgery for women who have been raped, as well as other medical care

This article appeared in print under the headline “War against sexual violence”